1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an electrical supply or connecting terminal with a clamping spring and with a metal part, the clamping spring and the metal part being located in an insulating housing which has a conductor entry opening for entry of an electrical conductor which is to be connected, the clamping spring having a clamping leg and a contact leg and the metal part having at least one conductor bar piece, the clamping leg and the conductor bar piece forming a spring force terminal connection for the electrical conductor to be connected.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical terminal means or connecting means are used to establish an electrical terminal or electrical connection, specifically to produce an electrically conductive connection, specifically a metallic connection, between a contact element and a mating contact element. Whether in the individual case there is a terminal means or a connecting means, is functionally relatively unimportant. It is often considered a terminal means when something locally movable is connected to something locally stationary, while often it is considered a connecting means when something locally movable is connected to something locally movable or even when something locally stationary is connected to something locally stationary.
A supply terminal of the initially described type is known, for example, from German Patent Application DE 101 03 107 A1. In the known supply terminal, the metal part is made as a repeatedly bent contact element that has a first profile section which runs essentially perpendicular to the insertion direction of the conductor which is to be connected and has a plug opening for the conductor, and a second profile section which is bent away from the first profile section in the insertion direction. The clamping spring, which is made essentially U-shaped, projects with its clamping leg through the plug opening in the contact element so that the end of the clamping leg presses an electrical conductor which has been inserted into the plug opening against the second profile section of the contact element. The contact element and the clamping spring thus form a spring force clamp connection for an electrical conductor which is to be connected.
The clamping spring is connected to the contact element by the end of the second leg of the clamping spring being riveted securely to the contact element above the plug opening. In the known supply terminal, the fixing of the clamping spring on the contact element by means of rivets is comparatively involved. Moreover, the size of the known supply terminal is relatively large; in particular, the supply terminal is relatively tall since, by fixing the second leg of the clamping spring above the plug opening the rear spring arc of the clamping spring is also located essentially above the approximately L-shaped contact element.
German Patent DE 198 17 927 C1 discloses an electrical supply terminal which likewise has an essentially U-shaped clamping spring and a L-shaped metal part. The metal part is connected to a plug or socket part so that the known supply terminal is also called a plug-in connector. The L-shaped metal part has a component piece which is located perpendicular to the conductor entry direction with a rectangular opening being formed through which the electrical conductor to be connected can be inserted. The ends of the legs of the U-shaped clamping spring are located in the opening such that the rear spring arc of the clamping spring is located, in the conductor inlet direction, in front of the opening and the clamping leg of the clamping spring presses the inserted electrical conductor against the top edge of the opening so that, in this known plug-in connector, the clamping spring and the metal part also form a spring force clamp connection. When the clamping spring is opened with an actuating tool, there is the danger that the clamping spring will slip or the ends of its spring legs will even slip out of the opening so that proper positioning of the clamping spring when an electrical conductor is being inserted, and thus reliable contact-making of the electrical conductor are no longer guaranteed under certain circumstances.